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My Extra Monthly Income

Last Updated: June 26, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 44 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Today is Wednesday, finally! Anyways, I thought I’d finally give you the details on my extra monthly income.

In my January Goals update, I said:

“Make an extra $500 this month.  PASS. I made over $600 from blog income and surveys!”

After I posted that, I was literally flooded with e-mails from you guys!

I’ve told you guys in this post, my February Goals, and in my goal update post that I would tell you more information about my monthly income. I’m not going to lie, I have been pushing this off because I’m not too entirely sure what to say and I thought this post would be extremely boring. But then I reminded myself that before I was making this extra income, I LOVED (and I still do love) reading about others and how they made their extra income. It’s nice to find out about new opportunities that you may not have thought about. [Read more…]

44 Comments
Filed Under: Blog, Extra Income, Life Tagged With: Extra Money, Income, Life, Travel

Why I keep my blog anonymous and other questions you have asked

Last Updated: June 25, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 53 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

It’s Friday! I’m sure you all knew that. One of my youngest friends finally turned 21 the other day and we’re going out for her birthday tonight. I’m excited. I’ve been waiting for tonight all week. What plans do you have for the weekend? I start classes on Tuesday, so this weekend will also be pretty depressing.

Yesterday in my blog post I was asked why I keep my blog so private. I’ve also had many other people ask this, so to the person who asked this yesterday, I’m not trying to single you out. It’s a good question!

I try and blog anonymously as much as I can. If you look through past posts, you will find pictures though. And I always post pictures of things around my house, I’m just never in them. Also, if you look at other blogs, you will most likely find my pictures floating around.

There are many reasons why I blog anonymously:
  1. I talk a lot about money. I like to openly talk about everything with my finances, and if I wasn’t private, I don’t know if I would still do that. I would want to make some things more private with my finances so that I could obviously have some privacy between me and my family/friends
  2. I talk about my family. There are many things that I say in my blog about my family, that I really wish that my friends and family wouldn’t read. I have a very difficult time talking about my dad in person, and I feel like in my blog I can talk about it very openly without worrying about what people think, because you all are very kind and always make me feel better.
  3. Since I blog kind of anonymously, I don’t hold back with what I say. I feel like I can share anything and everything. I’m not saying that I’m fake when I’m around my friends and family. I’m saying that I can be completely open and share all of my thoughts and feelings. Nothing wrong with that right?

I don’t want anyone thinking I’m a fake person though just because I don’t post a lot of pictures. Just because I blog anonymously does not mean that I’m not completely honest with you guys. Sorry if I come across in a different way. I do want to start posting more pictures though, because I want you guys to be able to relate to me more! It’s probably weird that I blog anonymously to some of you, I hope to change this soon. Thanks for the great question everyone!

Even though I do blog anonymously now, I DO actually want to change this soon. I’m hoping I can get over my problem and be more open.

I was also asked the other day why I have all of these vacations planned instead of paying off my debt.  I’m not really sure how to answer this. I don’t see traveling as me wasting money. I actually see it as one of the best ways that I can spend my money. I also budget every month for a vacation fund, so I’m not going more into debt for it.

Also, all of my vacations are relatively cheap compared to most. I don’t really pay for airfare (I’ll say this again, because of my dad’s survivor retirement benefits).  So it’s not like I’m spending a lot of money anyways. I’m also young, so of course I would want to travel now. My vacations that I budgeted for this year account for less than 5% of our after-tax yearly income also.

My net worth is positive also, and I have no credit card debt. I don’t think I’m frivolous with my money, but I do understand how it may seem like I am. I’ve also never been late with a payment. Also, I’m not trying to be rude or mean with what I’m saying. And I’m also not trying to have a pity party, but I like to relax every now and then because life can be stressful because of my family.

Update as of 9:30 am (I’ve added lots of clarifying updates to this post already because I’ve gotten some emails, thanks everyone for your input, keep them coming!):  Another excuse for why I want to travel more and why I recently started so much is because my dad was an avid traveler. He traveled everywhere (he was a pilot). And before he passed he told me that I need to live life more. My dad passed away when he was in his 50’s, which is pretty young. He also worked hard his entire life and towards the end he was pretty miserable (because of family problems). So, since my dad passed away, I’ve been trying to live life, have fun and stop thinking about regrets. I don’t want to die young and not have been completely happy.

I do understand that it is probably confusing that I say that I want to be out of debt so bad, but then I spend money having fun. I’m pretty frugal in my life, and I guess I just never really considered traveling a “bad” way to spend money. I don’t know, I guess I’m wrong. I guess traveling is one of my weaknesses, but before I quit my old job (June of 2010), I hadn’t had a single vacation day for 5 years (wasn’t allowed at my job).

I know I’m just throwing excuses out there, but I just don’t see traveling as a bad thing.

Am I wrong for spending money instead of strictly paying off debt?

Well I think that’s all the questions that I can think of for now that some of your asked me. I really hope this helps you guys understand me more. I really promise that one day soon I will stop blogging anonymously. I will of course delete some of the things about my mom that I’ve said, but I will do it soon.

What else would you want to know about me?

Now I have a question for you. What would you like to see me post more about?

53 Comments
Filed Under: Blog, Life Tagged With: Blog, Life

Purchased my own domain!

Last Updated: December 8, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 37 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I just purchased my own domain, I am now at https://www.makingsenseofcents.com/

Blogger says they will forward everything, but I’m not sure how that works or how long it takes. Anyone know? Or anything I should know?

So, what I’m asking is that if you could please update your links for my website. I would love you forever.

Also, when I bought the domain, I noticed that my blog list disappeared, and that I had to re-add everyone. If I forgot to re-add you just now, please let me know! Please look.

Thank you!

P.S. another question.  Will I lose all of my followers via feedburner?

37 Comments
Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Uncategorized

Should I start a Twitter account? And a house question

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 13 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Everyone keeps telling me that I need a Twitter for my blog, but I just don’t know.  For some reason Twitter has never really interested me a whole ton.  Maybe it’s because I never really look and I am just secretly afraid of all the time I might waste.

Who has a Twitter and who thinks I should join?


Also, does anyone know how much it usually costs for carpet in a living room? Our living room is around 15×15 (that is a complete guess). I’ve called so many places, but they said they wouldn’t give me a price unless I let someone come to my house, and all I really want is an average number. We don’t want anything super fancy, just nice.

13 Comments
Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Life

My Google account was deleted, but now it’s back! YAY!

Last Updated: December 8, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 12 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I was reading through blogs yesterday, right after I posted my last post, and I noticed that my gmail AND my blog were deleted.  I had a mild heart attack and I felt horrible the rest of the night.  I e-mailed Google around 3 or 4 times and they e-mailed me back and reinstated everything. THANKFULLY!

I am so happy. I would’ve been so upset if everything was permanently disabled. Google said it was an accident, so oh well.

The BF made me dinner last night to make me feel better, so I guess it was a win-win.

Happy Halloween everyone!

12 Comments
Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Life

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Making Sense of Cents welcome page photo
Hello and welcome!
My name is Michelle and I'm the author/owner of Making Sense of Cents. Learning how to save money and make more money changed my life. It allowed me to pay off $40,000 in student loans, start my own business, and I now travel full-time.

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